By pacbiztimes Thursday, October 21st, 2021

Pacific Premier Bancorp saw its net income and assets grow in its most recent quarter, the company announced Oct. 21.

The Irvine-based bank, which has nine branches in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, reported net income of $90.1 million, or 95 cents per diluted share, for the quarter ended Sept. 30. For the same quarter in 2020, the bank’s net income was $66.6 million, or 70 cents per diluted share.

Pacific Premier Bancorp, the parent company of Pacific Premier Bank, reported $21.01 billion in total assets at the end of the quarter, an up from $19.84 billion a year earlier.

The bank’s net interest income totaled $169.1 million in the third quarter of 2021, up 1.5% year over year. Executives attributed the growth to lower cost of funds, a $1.52 billion increase in average investment securities, and a $377.5 million decrease in average interest-bearing liabilities.

The bank sold $12 million in pandemic-related Small Business Administration loans for a net gain of $1.2 million in the third quarter of 2021, compared to sales of $14.7 million of SBA loans for a net gain of $1.5 million in the second quarter of 2020.

“While the resurgence of COVID-19 cases slowed the pace of the economic recovery during the third quarter, our dynamic business development capabilities coupled with our proprietary technology enabled us to generate high-quality loan and deposit growth, increase revenue, and achieve higher positive operating leverage,” Steven Gardner, the chairman, president and CEO of Pacific Premier Bancorp, said in the bank’s news release. “These efforts further improved our core earnings power.”